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Ravi Rai
Personality Ravi is an adventuresome, rebellious, devil-may-care globetrotter that revels in the challenge of the improbable, discovering the lost, shining light in the darkness, and somehow bringing renown to himself in spite of a rather licentious and hedonistic approach to life. Despite the latter, he's ultimately a noble man, in the sense that his heart's always in the right place, even if his head wholeheartedly lives in the spirit of little-restrained passion and vitality without regret (usually to his peril). Given his playful, arguably irresponsible demeanor, the man tries his best to avoid politics, intrigue, and the law, but often finds himself entangled in such things nonetheless. A fierce curiosity and desire to explore will do that to you :Strengths *Forever the optimist and glowing sun on a dark day, Ravi simply chooses not to dwell on the darkness of the world, despite having experienced much of it himself (often because of his own poor choices). *Courageous and valiant--Ravi will be the one to stand up and rebel, protect, defend if he feels passionately enough to do so, and he feels passionately about a lot of things. :Weaknesses *Ravi is a compulsive explorer and thrill-seeker, and will often choose to take the more interesting and curious path to the most prudent or safest one. He's also rather fond of a good time, and prone to living it up, given the opportunity. *Freedom. It's a defining motivation for the man, and when his personal freedoms (physically, mentally, socially) are threatened, those are particular "thrills" he will aim to avoid, and go through great lengths to get back, if taken. :Goals *Live! Life is a gift and should be enjoyed to the fullest. This involves risk, challenge, and adversity; to shy away from them would defeat the purpose of living. *Be Free! It's easiest to live when unhindered by arbitrary rules and metaphorical (or real) shackles. Laws exist for a reason, of course, but as an obstacle, they can be bent when necessary--so long as the intent is benevolent. *Do good. If one's freedoms are taken away, one can not live. It is the responsibility of those with the means to help free those without them... within reason. People have to grow, after all; we shouldn't take that opportunity away from them. *Explore. Discover. There's so much to see in the world, and so much that has been lost, someone needs to take the risk to see it all and find them again! History :Chapter 1: First Change Well, my British mother was a second-generation ethnic Indian living in Hong Kong during my adolescent years (my father an American elsewhere). Due to her busy schedule, she was unable to handle my adventuresome spirit and burgeoning curiosity, which often lead me out onto the streets to explore, you know? It was one such adventure that lead to me to breaking into a rather exclusive explorer's club. Well, "breaking;" they had left a window open. Anyways, there were these plush chairs, jazz music playing (and a also great deal of cigar smoke). Sitting opposite the window was this older British gentleman, who was also a Khan, as it turns out. Naturally, he had no way of immediately knowing my heritage, so he promptly showed me the door. With his foot. But as I now had a challenge to meet, time and again, I acrobatically, marvelously found new and interesting ways to infiltrate the club. Less fortunately, that's what lead to my First Change. It occurred when I discovered a particular fetish gem in a display area of the club--it was tied to and sacred to the King of Cats, which of course I had no way of knowing, who materialized and slapped the Change right out of me, so to speak. That was our first encounter, but it wouldn't be our last. :Chapter 2: Tutelage The explorer's turned out to be Richard Davenport, which I learned after being conscripted into the man's tutelage. Richard was, of course, less than thrilled when a newly-crinos'd Kit began reducing his display cases to splinters amidst the echoing mirth of the King's laughter. (The spirit had been meaning to punk Richard for some time, you should know, much to his dismay. The gem was taken against his wishes.) In any event, from that day on through the next year, Richard saw to my training. He never questioned the serendipity of a Khan Kit near-literally falling upon his doorstep. Maybe he thought the King would punk him again if he didn't. Who knows! :Chapter 3: Rite of Passage There were plenty of convenient opportunities for me to prove myself in the city, but Richard was a creative man of romantic sentimentality, so he was having none of that. With my mother's blessing (as she came to see Richard as an angel, tending to her son's wayward spirit), we instead traveled to China's mountainous wilderness. The entire journey was a test, of course, as a good portion of it was on foot--all to reach a particular cave, into which Richard told me to enter, and to take the aforementioned King's gem with me. It was time to put the item to rest, he said, and that I should, under no circumstances, leave until the deed was done. Naturally, Richard failed to mention the place's corrupted Dakat guardians, probably nailbuffing as I shifted to crinos and entered the ominous darkness of imminent peril. But given that I clearly didn't die, suffice it to say I managed to leverage my natural athleticism and brawn to power past the corrupted guardians with well-trained grace and even a glimmer of style (at least I thought so) amidst all of my bleeding. I replaced the now blood-splattered gem (it was my blood), where it crumbled into dust, its purpose complete, whatever that had been. The King then appeared before me again, smile rakish. "Good job, kiddo. I knew you had it in you." Well of course he did. :Chapter 4: Rank 2 Many, many years later, after an accumulation of much renown and political paw-kissing and kowtowing and delightful Beast Court shenanigans, I found myself the leader of a small band of Bastet explorers (and a related Kha'vadi named Cabe), delving deeply into some untamed, ruined location in the thick of some South American jungle. Leadership has never been my particular cup of tea, if you could even call this that, but given we were on a timer and I was the only individual with enough well-researched knowledge of the place, I lead us into the dark. (I just think the accompanying Balam were keen on seeing me die first should anything go awry.) I suppose the fact that I was there at all--in *their* ruins, as they were so quick to point out--insinuated a certain level of trust I had spent months attempting to cultivate. Naturally, anything we found would go to the Balam straightaway, but that wasn't why I was there, as I had insisted many times already. This was a journey to prove a point--to the spiritual community, and specifically, the King of Cats--that I was ready for the next step forward (and for the King's partnership). There were many traps and tests, of course, several of which involved me nearly plummeting to an uncomfortably spikey doom, (much to the Balam's amusement), but once again I availed myself of a certain athletic grace to not be rendered dead. And retorting to each not-death with a brilliant smile, we continued forward through various battles with Dakat and Asura to a final room. :That just so happened to be on fire. :In its entirety. :An inferno of really hot, burninating death. (That's how I had labeled the room, at least.) The talens we had brought for just this occasion... failed to work. Well. That left two options--go back, or go forward, and surely perish. At that, before any discussion could really get underway, I simply shrugged, and said, "If I die, just tell everyone it was a really good, hot death." I glanced away, thought of a rejoinder, turned back, and added, "The sexy kind," before dashing within to be properly burninated. And I was! Sort of. The flames were just as hot and awful as I had expected, but with a running start, I had hoped my inertia would carry me to the far side of the room (which by all accounts, should turn off the flames for the others). It did not go quite as planned, however, as there was a bit of zig-zag ferret-war-dancing that one might expect of unfathomable pain. But roaring with rage and unbridled optimism (or possibly a frenzy, the other Bastet couldn't tell, and I don't really remember, pain and all), I made it. And incidentally was not burned to a cinder. Apparently it had all been a huge mind-game. Lovely. In any event, artifacts were collected, ancestors respected and remembered, and there, at the grace of the Balam, I made my entreaty to the spirits--and one spirit in particular. Sheet Backgrounds Explain all your backgrounds here, should they need a more in-depth explanation. *'Ally': Mother. *'Contacts': Beast Courts; Explorers *'Jamak': King of Cats (3; Charms: (Airt Sense, Reform, Healing, Materialize, Shapeshift); R:4 W:6 G:6) *'Resources': Moneys earned from exploration and salvage contracts, videography (online and from networks), family. Specialties List here, if any. Copy the below if you need to. Talents *'Talent (Specialty)': Text. Skills *'Skill (Specialty)': Text. Knowledges *'Knowledge (Specialty)': Text. Merits & Flaws Explain all your merits and flaws here, should they need a more in-depth explanation. Copy the below if needed. Merits *'Charmed Existence (5)': It's really one of the few ways to explain Why/How/WTF Ravi is even still alive. Maybe it's his optimism, his vigor and brightness, his clarity of purpose, a blessing from the King of Cats--whatever the case, that never say die smile has kept him alive in spite of more than one dire hour. *'Languages (4)': Hindu-Urdu, Mandarin, Spanish (Castillian), Sanscrit. Flaws *'Compulsion (1)': Compelled to take the road less traveled, the interesting over the safe; thrill. *'Curiosity (2)': As a companion to the above, there's so much to see in the world, and Ravi wants to see it all. Very often prudence is set aside for the satisfaction of mystery. This is why he needs friends. Relationships *Cabe: Husband! *Rayya: Half-sister. *Aerryn: Kind of weird uncle/father sort of. Additional Pictures File:Ravibackpack.jpg File:Ravibrow.jpg File:Ravifood.jpg File:Ravimad.jpg Category:Foil Characters